Badaun case: CBI asked to submit evidences, case diary on Feb 2

A local court here has asked CBI to submit evidences along with case diary on February 2 before it to corroborate its "closure report" indicating that the two teenage cousins in Katra village of Badaun were not raped or murdered, as earlier alleged by the local police.

Badaun: A local court here has asked CBI to submit evidences along with case diary on February 2 before it to corroborate its "closure report" indicating that the two teenage cousins in Katra village of Badaun were not raped or murdered, as earlier alleged by the local police.

Additional district judge (POCSO Act) Anil Kumar, who had earlier fixed today's date for the purpose, has fixed February 2 as the next date of hearing after CBI didn't submit any evidence.

The victims' counsel Kokab Hasan Naqvi said in the court that it seems that CBI did not have any evidence in the case and it was trying to save itself.

One of the victim's father Sohanlal also made allegations against the agency stating that honesty, which was expected from CBI probe was not there in the case.

CBI had filed a closure report, which did not have any evidence, in the court on December 12 last year claiming that the girls had committed suicide.

The agency had filed its report saying there was no forensic or circumstantial evidence suggesting rape and murder as alleged in the FIR registered by Uttar Pradesh Police after the girls' bodies were found hanging from a tree in May.

The CBI said the two girls had committed suicide fearing retribution as the elder girl's affair with a local boy from a different caste had come to light.

The bodies of the two cousins, both around 14 years, were found hanging in an orchard on May 28 last year. The girls' families had alleged that they were kidnapped and murdered by five youths from the village. The incident sparked an outcry in the country and abroad with questions being raised over the law and order situation.

Even United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had expressed concern.

The agency had closed the investigation after dropping charges against five persons - Pappu, Awadhesh and Urvesh Yadav (brothers) and constables Chhatrapal Yadav and Sarvesh Yadav - named as prime accused by the state police for the alleged rape and murder of the girls.